How’'s the waitlist at St. Paul’s?
@cbfchief - Like most waitlists which usually don’t shakeout for another month or so. Since you have acceptances from other schools this might be worth repeating 
Good luck!
Here’s the drill:
If you receive a WL decision from your first choice school and an acceptance from another school- the steps are pretty simple:
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Accept a place on the WL via email with Delivery and Read Receipts.
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Schedule a Revisit Day and put the WL school OUT OF YOUR MIND for now. Go to Revisit Day and have a great time.
You’ll have one month for the WL to shakeout and to make a decision about the other school . If you want to go the distance with the WL school ( WITHOUT jeopardizing the other school ) you’ll have until A9. On A8 have your PARENT call the WL school and ask to speak to the DOA. Tell WL school that you have to act on an acceptance from another school before the deadline but you’d like to check WL status ( one last time ) before you do. If they tell you that they’re NOT going to the WL or they don’t expect much movement- thank them and have them remove your name from the WL.
It’s time to MOVE ON unless you choose to stay on the WL. If WL school miraculously does come through ( after A10 ) you’ll have to break your commitment with the other school and forfeit your deposit- which isn’t a mere bag of shells, by the way. Personally, I could never take this route because I’m way too frugal and like closure .
I’m also big on keeping commitments- but that’s just me. So- now we’re one or two days away from the deadline…
- Now that you’ve given the WL time to play out ( and you can walkaway and never wonder because you’ve seen it through to the end… ) : Have your parent call the school ( you’ll be attending ) and tell them the deposit check is on it’s way via FedEx.
The End.
I got Waitlisted at Exeter, and I applied for financial aid. Are waitlisted students eligible for financial aid if they get off the waitlist? thx.
@dongding123. Highly unlikely but never say never. Yes eligible but the pool may be gone. I suspect most candidates that get in via waitlist are Full Pay. I could be wrong
@PhotographerMom, thanks for the advice.
DD applied for FA and now got waitlisted at a couple of schools. My question is that if we tell the school we commit to full payment, we will have bigger chance to move off the list?
@whoseMom: If you could commit to full pay, you don’t need FA and unnecessarily put your child’s application in the small (FA) pile instead of the larger (FP) pile where s/he would have had a better shot at admission. If you can truly be FP – and that means FP every year your child attends – then, yes, you should make that call. The chance of getting off a WL are infitessimally small, but you do have a better chance as FP if your student was a strong contender. Good luck.
thank you for your kind reply. My husband read somewhere if you think you somehow need FA in the next 4 years , you better make the call when you apply. He knows we couldn’t get it anyway based the past income. We are new to the BS applying process, now heard that we maybe unnecessary for DD in a more competitive pool and maybe also why she got all the WLs from the school she applied:(
I was waitlisted to five schools: Exeter, St. Paul’s, Middlesex, Milton, and Groton. The spots were pretty competitive this year, but I do think five schools is a lot. I am not depending on it completely, but is there a good chance that at least one will call me and offer a spot?
@schoolkitty Unfortunately, no. Though your chances are better than if you were only on one WL, they’re still not good. I waited out 15 WLs over three years before I got a call. Two years ago I was on eight, and nothing came my way.
There is a chance, but not a good chance. Go ahead and prepare for next year as you would if all schools had outright denied you admission, and do your best to look forward to the good things at your public high school or whatever school you will attend if boarding school doesn’t happen.
Are any of the HADES waitlists moving?
I don’t think the’s going to be any real movement until after 10 April, but I could be wrong…
@schoolkitty I see from your other post that you got into two very good schools. Congrats! You’ve done very well. Take the advice of many other posters and focus on which of the ones offered you’d like to attend. If you’d really prefer one of the five WL school, you can always stay on its WL until April 9. Personally, I’d forego the stress and worry in a second…both your existing options are excellent. And if your concerned with image, you can tell your friends you ‘declined to be on the WL’ at x, y, z
Does anyone know if Exeter/Andover/Choate/Hotchkiss accepted more/less than they should have this year? I know it’s a dumb question but I. Am. Dying.
There is no way of answering your question at present. Schools know their historic yield rates, which are largely consistent over time. They admit based on this historic yield. But, there is the potential for new wrinkles which may flesh out later. Consider this issue: schools reporting this cycle that they have received the largest number of applicants ever. There are two potential causes that I can think of-- an overall larger pool of kids wanting to go to boarding school and/or a pool containing members who are applying to more schools. Anecdotally, we’ve certainly seen CC posters reporting applying to 10+ schools. Maybe that’s a new trend (which is what US universities are dealing with) that could throw off historic yield. If that’s the case, then those schools might not have accepted enough. (But remember, you could also have both factors at play which might result in a wash.) Regardless of trends, it would be unusual to come off the waitlist this early. While there are applicants who might have only one choice or who absolutely know what they want, it appears that many applicants will be attending multiple revisit days and making their decisions on or about April 10th. However, the admissions offices will now be tracking the enrollees over the next month against their historic numbers. So, for example, if a school typically receives 25% of enrollment acceptances within the first two weeks and they are only at 12%, they could go to the waitlist sooner rather than later. However, if their numbers are consistent with past, they will know that they can’t go to their waitlist until after April 10th. It’s awfully hard to wait (my daughter did last year to no avail). Both you and your parents should contact those schools in writing or by phone (both the Director and your specific AO) if you want to stay on the waitlist. Telling a first choice school that they are your first choice and will accept won’t hurt either. Finally, if your current school has a relationship with those schools, find out if your school will advocate for you. After that, you will have done all you can. Good luck.
@Kthor626 Thank you. Your answer gave me a better idea of the situation. But I shouldn’t contact the schools until March 15th, right? The Exeter email said that I should hold off the questions till after March 15th, since they are extremely busy. Does the “I want to stay on WL and I’m still interested” call count as a “question”?
You don’t want to get lost in (or associated with) the potential irate outright rejects or overly desperate folks calling on March 15th. If you were my kid, I’d suggest Friday morning or Thursday afternoon. People are more receptive and in a better mood then and you might be a nice point of contrast if you can present a positive message. Also, if you have ANY potential athletic hook, this should be exploited through additional channels. As to your message, it won’t make a lot of sense to say they got it wrong. Instead, you can point out things that maybe they didn’t know about when making their decision, either because you didn’t communicate it properly or because it is new info that arose after you completed your application. You can also reinforce how strongly you feel about the school and that it is your first choice and will take a spot if admitted. I’d do it all at one time in a phone call to your AO with a script, and then send up a confirming email to your AO and the Admissions Director. BTW, last year our AO did not respond to my daughter’s contacts about the WL. Instead, only the Director communicated with her on this subject.
Also understand that the schools accept as many students as they do knowing that some will choose to go elsewhere (yield).
Admissions is very good at accepting just as many people as they need to in order to fill their quota, and use the waitlist only if the quota hasn’t been filled.
So even if you know people that have been accepted but are not enrolling in School X, doesn’t mean that said school is going directly to their waitlist.
Especially with the more well known schools, the yield rate usually stays pretty consistent, so movement on the waitlist is rare.
@mrnephew HELLO